Methods, systems, and computer program products for multicast compression and pacing of database update messages transmitted between processing modules in a distributed processing system

Methods, systems, and computer program products for multicast compression and pacing are disclosed. In one method, messages relating to events that affect or require use of a database maintained by multiple processing modules in a distributed processing system are received. The messages are buffered and placed in a third message in a manner that preserves time ordering of the messages. The packed message is then multicast to the processing modules. Each processing module processes messages that are addressed to it. A method for pacing multicast messages destined for the processing modules is also provided.